The House That Dodge Built: Ex-Southlake Carroll coach returns to old stomping grounds with Austin Westlake

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When Todd Dodge walks on the field Friday at Dragon Stadium, he’ll be leading the red, white and blue of Austin Westlake. But the former Southlake Carroll coach will undoubtedly feel the pull of the green side.

The home side is where Dodge stood as Carroll put together a run from 2002 to 2006 that included five straight Class 5A title game appearances and four 5A championships. And on Friday, as Westlake and Carroll open the season, the home side is where many of Dodge’s former assistants will be standing.

Among them will be Hal Wasson, who took over the Carroll program in 2007. Other former Dodge assistants on Wasson’s staff include Robert Drake, Tony Holmes and Aaron Lineweaver. Dodge also will be looking across the field at Clayton George, who was his offensive coordinator at Carroll and receivers coach at North Texas.

“I don’t know exactly how I’ll feel when I get back in that stadium,” Dodge said, “but there will be some strong emotions.”

There also will be strong emotions from the Carroll crowd that remembers when Dodge took over a strong Carroll program and made it Herculean.

The Dragons were 79-1 over five seasons, with the only loss coming by a single point in the 2003 5A Division II title game. Proud fans wore “We play Dodge ball” t-shirts; Carroll’s “Protect the Tradition” slogan was everywhere, and although the Dragons were never a Cinderella team, their streak had a fairytale feel. It was just too good to be true.

It was certainly too amazing to fade from memory in the nearly eight years since Dodge left Carroll after winning the 2006 championship against … who was that again?

Oh yes, Austin Westlake. Small world.

“Todd’s very well loved here,” said Carroll ISD athletic director Kevin Ozee. “He’s left a great legacy. He’s an icon of Texas high school football.”

When Dodge took over the North Texas program in 2007, he was the rare high school coach to make the jump to college head coach. The years at UNT were a struggle, however, and his teams were 6-37, and he was ousted before the fourth season ended.

Dodge left to be the quarterbacks coach at Pittsburgh, but it was inevitable that he would return to Texas. He set state records as a quarterback for Port Arthur Jefferson, was a quarterback for Fred Akers’ Texas teams from 1981 to 1985 and began his coaching career as Rockwall’s quarterbacks guru in 1987.

After the 2011 season at Pittsburgh, Dodge spent two seasons as the coach at Marble Falls near Austin. In May, he took over at Westlake for Darren Allman, who left for Colleyville Heritage.

Wasson, who was a Carroll assistant in 2001 and 2002 before leaving to be head coach at Keller Fossil Ridge, said he’s happy for Dodge. He also knows how special the return to Dragon Stadium will be for him.

“When I was at Ridge and came back,” Wasson said, “I remember how special that feeling was, and I wasn’t even the head coach.”

It will be Dodge’s first return to Dragon Stadium since 2007, when his son, Riley, was a senior quarterback for the Dragons. But his memories of the place are still vivid, including the very first game at Dragon Stadium, which opened in 2001.

“Tre Sellari, a senior, scored the first touchdown at Dragon Stadium,” Dodge said.

It was the first of many to come. Dodge’s offenses were so precise and potent that the Dragons looked like a video game set on easy.

It won’t be nearly as easy Friday. Dodge returns with several Carroll connections on his staff, including offensive coordinator Kirk Rogers, who spent the last eight seasons with the Dragons before moving to Westlake in the spring. But Westlake’s offense doesn’t return any starters, and sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger will take his first varsity snap at a stadium where Carroll has lost only three times in 13 years.

Westlake also will be facing a program that has carried on quite nicely since Dodge’s departure. Wasson is 79-15 in seven seasons, and the Dragons won the 5A Division I title in 2011. Carroll is No. 6 in the state 6A preseason rankings.

Carroll has certainly protected the tradition without Dodge. But it was Dodge, with the help of a lot of coaches who will be on the Carroll sideline Friday, who launched the Dragons to the high school football stratosphere.

“I’m so proud of what we were able to do during that seven-year window,” Dodge said, “and I’m very proud of that program now, even though I’ll be coaching against it.”

Todd Dodge’s year-by-year record as a head coach at high schools and North Texas:

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